Mommy Minute: Put ‘Thumbs Up, Phones Down’ to stop distracted driving

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HARTFORD - We've all done it. Reached for the phone to chat, check email or text while operating a car. But Bernice Plourde of Southington says, "Stop." She knows firsthand the extreme dangers of distracted driving. "I had taken the kids to my mom's house for the weekend and we were coming back from Massachusetts," she says, remembering back to February 2006. "There wasn't much traffic. It was a clear day." A young woman, talking on her cell phone, drove through a stop sign and hit a tractor trailer that lost control, striking Plourde's vehicle. "My daughter was in the backseat. She got the brunt of the injury and died at the scene," says Plourde, a nurse. She is now joining her employer, Hartford Hospital, imploring drivers, especially teens, to make a life-saving promise to keep their eyes on the road.